Dodgers Recap: Knack’s Effort Comes Up Short as Senga, Mets win series

QUEENS, NY – It looked like another Shohei Ohtani-keyed win was brewing for Los Angeles. Instead, Pete Alonso and the Mets did just enough to give the Dodgers a sour taste heading into Memorial Day, beating the visitors by a score of 3-1.

After throwing a twenty-three pitch live bullpen session against hitters today for the first time in nineteen months, Ohtani homered on the second pitch of the game, a 108 mile per hour missile off of the Mets’ Kodai Senga. It was the first sign of what could be this year, a dominant two-way player on the bump and at the plate. And after Mookie Betts reached on an infield error and Freddie Freeman lined his patented double to left center, a short night for Senga was on the forecast. However, forecasts are often wrong. As was this one. What initially looked like a sacrifice fly for Will Smith was really a double play upon review, as Tyrone Taylor made a sublime throw to Luis Torrens to gun down Betts at the plate. Teoscar Hernandez struck out to end the threat.

Landon Knack appeared to be out of the first inning without any trouble, but Max Muncy bobbled a sharp grounder from Juan Soto, who just beat the throw to first. On the next pitch, Pete Alonso launched an 80-mile-per-hour knuckle curve into the left field seats to flip the score and make it 2-1 Mets. It was another costly error for Muncy, whose defense at the hot corner has already hurt the Dodgers multiple times this year.

Knack pitched pretty well the rest of the way. In fact, the only other run he allowed was on an ill-advised flip to second from Mookie Betts, leading to first and third with nobody out, and Juan Soto produced a run-scoring groundout. But the real story of the night was the Dodgers offense, or lack thereof. They hit into three double plays, and are now seventh in the league in twin killings. They failed to put any real pressure on the Mets bullpen after Senga left the game, as Ryne Stanek, Max Kranick, and Reed Garrett closed the door.

With so many pitching injuries, now more than ever this year is when the Dodgers need their big boppers to get going. Muncy and Michael Conforto, who struck out to end tonight’s contest, have struggled since opening day and haven’t had any real hot streaks. Mookie Betts hasn’t looked like himself since the World Series last year. And the Dodgers, who just last week had the best record in baseball, now find themselves a couple of bad series’ away from being outside the National League playoff picture. It’s May, so it doesn’t mean anything, but for a team that was almost expected to break the all-time wins record of the 2001 Seattle Mariners of 116, it’s a bit worrisome.

In the meantime, the Dodgers are in the midst of their toughest stretch of the year, twenty-six consecutive games against teams above .500. Tomorrow, they’ll face the Guardians at 3:10 PDT in Cleveland. It’ll be Yoshinobu Yamamoto for Los Angeles against right-hander Gavin Williams for the Guardians. The Dodgers could really use a win, as they’ve dropped two straight and six of their last nine contests. Luckily for LA, Yamamoto’s just the guy to get it done.

Have you subscribed to the Bleed Los Podcast YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and promotions, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!